Nineteen

Oscar and Lee meet

After being hurried through a medical review and examination Oscar found himself in a small room on the 4^th floor of a police building. All four walls, including one outer wall looking onto the street below, were glass. One side of the room was obscured from view by thin grey lines which made the glass on that side opaque. On the other sides though, the glass was as clear as the window meaning the table placed in the middle of the room felt painfully exposed. The room temperature was comfortable and lightly air-conditioned, though Oscar himself was not feeling quite so at ease. His medical examiners had told him the result of the crash. He had several bruises over his body which ached. His shoulder wound had opened up and needed a further ten stitches to seal it back up. Something had hit his head with tremendous force - the doctors suggested he must have been concussed, but Oscar shook his head at this suggestion - and opened up another wound which again had to be stitched. But with all this work done they had ushered him away, to be guided in handcuffs into this room and sat down. In fairness to the officers, it was possible that one of the reasons they were so rough and ready with handling him, other than the fact he had disrupted one of their most important operations, was that he had yet to say a single word to them. It was a tactic Oscar had been trained to employ if found in custody. By not issuing a single word, it immediately put the interviewing officer off their toes. Not to mention it gave every word one then did say when eventually starting to talk that much more significance.

And so it was under those circumstances that Oscar found himself sitting at that overly-exposed table, with handcuffs wrapped tightly around his wrists, watching a confident young blonde man, the one who had spoken words to him in the car, stride into the room and place some papers in front of him. He held out his hand whilst still stood up.

‘I’m Detective Lee Harding’, Oscar looked at his hand with something between distain and utter disinterest. Naturally he did not shake it. ‘No’ continued Lee, ‘I suppose I shouldn’t have expected anything else. My colleague will be along shortly’. Lee finally pulled up one of the two chairs opposite Oscar and sat down. Clasping his hands together on the table he still seemed confident, even arrogant. He obviously felt in control. Oscar continued to observe his surroundings carefully looking at the officers around him, the dimensions of the room. The watch on his wrist. As much as actually taking in information he was doing this to confuse his captors. Eventually another man, dark skinned and with glasses, showed up. He opened the door and walked in, this time far more briskly. Repeating Lee’s opening act he held out his hand,

‘Detective James Smith’ he offered,

‘He’s not gonna do that’ Lee cut in, pulling his friends hand down as he too took his seat. After James had settled Lee moved his hand to the tape recorder and pushed play, ‘I am commencing this interview at 11:24. In with the suspect �" as yet unnamed �" are Officer James Smith and myself, Officer Lee Harding. I am putting on record the suspect has yet to utter a single word to any member of the emergency service team, yet seems to understand English as he followed basic instructions during his medical examination’ Lee leaned away from the microphone and sat back in his chair. He stared at Oscar for a moment as James shifted through some of the papers on the table. ‘So my first question for you is very simple. Who are you?’ James looked up from the papers expectantly. Perhaps expecting an answer, perhaps just to see Oscar’s reaction. Oscar continued his silence. ‘We found on you; a pack of cigarettes, two packs of gum, a wallet with no ID no debit or credit card with any name on it and 30 dollars in cash. We also found a .38 Glock in your waistband’, Oscar continued to stare back at Lee. He could feel the frustration starting to grow. ‘Sir, none of that is illegal. What is illegal, and the reason we are allowed to keep you here like this is the speed you were travelling and the manner with which you stopped the car. Not to mention your breaking through a police barrier’ he said this last bit with a slight chuckle. Then he leaned into Oscar, ‘We know the breaks were cut’ Oscar couldn’t help but squint. He hoped Lee hadn’t noticed. ‘So maybe there’s a real simple situation you can explain to us here and we can let you go’ Lee looked over at James in an obvious act, ‘Or maybe you’re being played my friend. So I’ll ask again. Who are you?’ Oscar had of course considered this as an option. He then took an intake of breath and opened his mouth. He felt immediately the two officers lean in, even the guard at the far corner of the room turned to look. He had them. Then he let out a sigh, rubbed his eyes and put on the best bored face he could before making the sign for a drink with his hand. ‘Let it be noted’ Lee went on ‘the suspect has gestured for a drink and made no other attempt to answer my questions’. The guard quickly popped out the room to get the cup of water. Lee went on, ‘What were you doing on 12^th street this morning?’ Oscar made no attempt to answer. ‘Does the car you were found in belong to you?’ Oscar did the same thing. This went on for about another 20 minutes before finally Lee leaned over to the tape recorder and said loudly,

‘I am terminating this interview at 12:03. Suspect is still yet to say a single word’. And with that the two men stood up and left. Upon leaving the room James and Lee walked around to one of the clear walls and looked in pensively at the man sat patiently at the table.

‘What are you thinking?’ asked Lee,

‘I have absolutely no idea’ replied James, shaking his head. ‘Have we spoken to the guy downstairs yet? Eli was it…?’, Lee shook his head,

‘They’ve given him a debriefing interview with some basic questions. He’s saying more than this guy’ Lee gestured toward the room, ‘but not much. Saying he wants to speak to the person in charge’. James looked at Lee, raising an eyebrow.

‘Well that would be you then’. Lee considered this for a moment. Had he really found himself in a position of being in charge.

‘I wanna crack this guy James. Somethings’ telling me he’s the one we need to be speaking to. Let’s leave him there to sweat and go get a coffee, we’ll try again in another couple hours’, James agreed and the two men left the building to go and enjoy a cup of coffee and a relaxing couple of hours in which to think.

The two men found themselves in the diner they had been in months before. Lee hadn’t realised how hungry he was until he’d walked in and smelled the pancakes and bacon being cooked and summarily ordered some food of his own along with his coffee. James followed suit but went for a rather more modest bowl of porridge. Sitting and tucking into their meals the two didn’t talk for a while. Eventually after they were halfway through their meals and decided the matter wasn’t quite as urgent, James struck up a conversation.  ‘Go on then’ he began, ‘Let’s swap stories’. Lee looked up from an oversized piece of toast and rose an eyebrow. ‘The job, this thing’ James continued, ‘Why?’. Lee put the piece of toast down on the plate and grabbed his serviette to wipe his mouth.

‘Ok’, he nodded, ‘When I was 8 years old, my father killed my mother’, he took a pause and noticed the statement had shocked his friend, ‘I didn’t mean to say it like that. Wow’ Lee chuckled to himself, ‘Don’t worry, I’m ok. But that’s what happened. Anyway I called the police and they showed up and took my dad away. But this policeman who showed up, I remember him leaning down to me and putting his coat around me. He smiled and just said ‘It’ll be alright kid’. That’s all he said, but right then I knew, he was my hero’, Lee took another bite of his meal. ‘I’ve always been a puzzle solver, but from that day I knew there was only one kind of puzzle I ever wanted to solve.’ He chuckled to himself again, ‘You know I was kind of disappointed when we found Tina. I really thought I was gonna be the one to save her’, Lee finished his coffee and shot back the question. ‘What about you, what’s your story?’, James smiled,

‘Fair enough.’ James sighed as he began his story, ‘My wife. She, my brother and I, we always got on really well. Family holidays, meals, you know the stuff. Anyway one night I was out working late. On this case I told you about. She had dropped something off at Fred’s house and she was on her way home’ James rubbed his head, obviously distressed, ‘She was killed’,

‘I’m sorry’ Lee interrupted,

‘Yeah’ James continued, ‘Fred was sure he knew who did it. So he tracked him down, found him, and….’ James gestured a shooting motion.

‘He did that for YOUR wife?’ Lee questioned. James took a sip of coffee and shook his head,

‘He always loved her’, Lee nodded, ‘Anyway, I went down to the cold cases to try find out if he’d killed the right guy. But I’ve never been able to find anything’. With that last sentence the two returned to their silence and finished their meals, before Lee slapped his hand against the table,

‘Well let’s go find out what the f**k is going on. We both need a win on this one’, James smiled and nodded and the two men made their way back to the station.

The second interview began in much the same way as the first, total silence from Oscar and careful observation from Lee and James. Eventually this time Lee got fed up. ‘Listen, if you won’t answer any of my questions I’ll just have to ask them to the man sitting downstairs. The only one left alive in that house.’ Oscar looked up, he couldn’t help it. ‘Something tells me he’ll know who you are. You think you’re…’, it was at that point Oscar decided to play his hand. He interrupted,

‘Listen. You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into’. He spoke carefully and deliberately. He could feel everyone in the room hang on his every word. No one wanted to interrupt him. ‘Mr. Harding is it?’ he looked at Lee and leant over the table, ‘You are a mouse in a f*****g maze my friend, and you don’t even know it. You both seem like nice guys, want to do good, so I’m gonna help you out. Let me go. Untie these cuffs and let me walk out that door, because if you don’t, I cannot guarantee your safety.’ Lee waited a few moments, checking if Oscar had finished.

‘You’re British?’, Oscar sniggered,

‘Yes I am’

‘Who are you?’

‘Did you know, you’ve spoken to me for nearly an hour and not once have you asked the right question’, Lee didn’t understand,

‘What is the right que….’ He was interrupted by the interview room door being opened.

‘Sorry to interrupt officers, the man’s lawyer is on the phone’

‘Did he give you this guy’s name’ James asked,

‘No, he just said it would be the guy not talking’. Lee suspended the interview and watched as the man in cuffs was walked to the phone by the guard. He sat frustrated by the experience, wondering just what the man had meant by his final comment.